Tie-ups neck collar - collar by Doc Johnson - review by bunky

Theoretically the Doc Johnson Tie-Ups neck collar is just what you want in a simple to use and safe restraint system; theoretically. (I'll discuss my woes in performance, later). For a neck collar, it is quite comfortable and the Velcro adjusts to a wide range of neck sizes (from the most delicate 10 inch neck to those about 16 inches), making it a product that both men and women can use.

The design of the neck collar is great, up to one particular point.

The good: The collar is about 2 inches wide and 16 inches long, with 1/4 of an inch of nylon and padding. To give an idea of the material strength, the nylon and buckles are of the quality of your most rugged of backpacks; it is clearly built to endure. All the stitching appears to be reinforced several times over, and the plastic of the buckles themselves are quite hardy (ie, it would take some serious effort to break them).

The bad: or rather, the not-well-thought-through. The buckles. Sure, the buckles are gender free (meaning, that they are both "female" and "male" parts of a buckle which can be interchanged with any other gender free buckle. They are however, unattractive. And this is quite a big point when it comes to the "sexiness" of being in any sort of restraint system.

As having three buckles that are 1 x 2 inches sticking out of the neck collar, unattached to anything else, is quite unsexy. D-Rings for example, however, are quite sexy in my opinion. They are much more "industrial", and far more versatile then the buckles. With D-rings you can use clips, rope, or even your crooked finger to grab at the collar; whereas with the buckles, you can only use other buckle parts.

My concern: Because the lock up system is based with plastic buckles and not metal D-rings, I must express my concern that there is potentially a point (for myself or another user) where the plastic will break under the pressure. If the plastic breaks while being used, it may become difficult for an individual to be set free. This is a serious concern for me, because should the buckle break during a panic situation whoever is being restrained may severely injure themselves in their attempts to break free. Whereas again, the metal of a D-ring would not break, and in a panic situation you could simply unclip the restraints.

In and of itself, the posture collar was quite comfortable. And due to being 2 inches wide, it acted as a bit of a posture collar; which was nice. Again, the padding made it quite comfortable and was not scratchy, or had any rough edges at all. However, buying the "Tie Ups" neck collar is only really practical if you also intend to buy the Wrist cuffs by Doc Johnson set as well. Otherwise, you have a product which you cannot use with anything else; and looks unappealing when worn by itself.

When the Doc Johnson neck collar and wrist cuffs are used together, certain care and safety must be taken into consideration. When the wrist cuffs are attached to the buckles of the neck collar, you are putting yourself in a very sensitive position. Should you struggle, by pulling your wrists apart (to the side, say left and right), you are also pulling any slack of the collar tightly around the front of your neck. This may cause you to cough, choke or otherwise strain your breathing (which in turn may cause you to panic!). Because of this, if you are struggling (as part of your role playing in a scene), I only recommend that your hands/wrists go in the same direction (ie, reaching/straining forward, so that any slack around your neck continues to leave your windpipe unaffected, and puts any strain on the back your neck, only).